Vegetable Pulao

I have told many times that I love all rice varieties such as pulao, biryani, fried rice etc. So I make different kinds of rice often by adding different flavours. I have already posted a version of Vegetable Pulao, which looks so white as there are no masala added. This is another version which is very flavourful and the secret behind it is addition of Fennel seeds. This gives the pulao a fresh feeling and a nice aroma. I have also added different veggies this time such as potato and bell pepper, which I usually don't add in pulao. You can add any type of veggies you prefer. As usual its a pressure cooker version and simple to make. Try adding fennel seeds if you haven't while making pulao, you will surely love it :)

You need...

1 cup Basmati Rice

1 Onion small chopped

1 cup mixed Vegetables ( Carrots, Capsicum, Potato)

Whole Spices : 1" pc Cinnamon, 2 Cloves, 2 Cardamom pods, 1 Star Anise

3/4 to 1 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tbsp Ghee

3/4 tsp Chilli powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Ginger- Garlic paste

1.5 cup Water

Kasoori methi (optional)

Salt

To prepare...

Wash the rice several times under cold water and soak in some water for 30 minutes.

Heat ghee in pressure cooker. Fry the Whole Spices as listed until it leaves a nice aroma.  

Splutter the fennel seeds. Add onions and ginger-garlic paste, saute until they are transparent. 

Now add the vegetable and fry for about 2-3 minutes. Add chilli powder, garam masala, turmeric powder , salt and mix. 

Finally add rice and kasoori methi saute for a minute. Add water and give a stir. Pressure cook for 2-3 whistles.

Serve hot with any raita or side dish.

Homemade Freshly Baked Masala Bread

Freshly baked bread out from the oven is such a wonderful sight. The flavour and aroma of the freshly baked bread is really divine. I have used a basic and simple white bread recipe here. Then I have added some flavour to it by adding the fresh mint and coriander leaves along with some chopped red onions. The green chillies gave a spicy flavour and made the bread more tasty. You can adjust all the masala ingredients according to your taste or add something new such as cumin, sesame seeds etc. I served it with some Mint chutney which was a wonderful combo. This bread is excellent for brunch or as well as snack. It was very soft and delicious. I would be definitely trying out a whole wheat version soon. Let's move on to the recipe now...

You need...

1.5 cup All Purpose Flour

2 tsp active dry Yeast

1 tbsp Sugar

3/4 tsp Salt

1 tbsp Vegetable Oil

1/2 cup warm Milk (approx)

1/4 cup warm Water

1/4 cup finely chopped Red Onion

a handful of Coriander leaves finely chopped

a handful of Mint leaves finely chopped

3-4 Curry Leaves finely chopped

3-4 Green chillies finely chopped

To prepare...

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water. Leave for 5-10 minutes until frothy.

Combine flour and salt. Add onion, green chillies, coriander, curry and mint leaves. Remember to squeeze out any water before adding them and mix in the flour.

Now add the yeast solution to the flour and mix.  Knead the dough by adding milk little by little. Finally add the oil, knead well , make a smooth ball. The dough will be very sticky. Place it in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth and leave it in warm place for 30-40 minutes or until it gets doubled.

After the first rise

Grease generously a loaf pan (5*9). Once the dough is doubled, gently punch it. Make a log shape out of the dough and place it in the loaf pan. Punch the dough and shape it inside the pan. 

Cover the pan with a damp cloth and leave in a warm place for another 30 - 40 minutes. The dough will rise again.

After second rise

Preheat the oven to 375F. Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the bread gets browned on the top.

Cool in the pan for about 10 minutes. 

Gently invert the pan and take the bread out.  Let it cool completely before you slice. Enjoy the bread with Mint chutney  or with some ketchup!

Notes:

* You can use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour for a healthier version.

* You can also add some finely chopped ginger, toasted cumin, sesame seeds etc.

* The rising time of the dough might depend on the climatic conditions.

* It's better to use a non stick loaf pan so that bread will come out quickly.
* Brush with milk or egg before baking for a glazing on the top if you desire.

Banana Paniyaram | Banana Sweet Bonda

It's a pleasure to let you all know that Good Food has crossed 1 lakh hits and I realized it today :). I would like to thank all my blogger friends and readers who drop at my space. I appreciate the feedbacks  from my blogger and non blogger friends through mails and comments after trying out my recipes. I am so happy that you take time to let me know the feedback. Thank you for your kind words about the healthy and simple recipes I share :)

Today's recipe is a common snack in most of our households. Whenever there are overripe bananas, our mothers and grandmothers used to quickly prepare this snack rt. These bondas are always deep fried, but I made them in paniyaram or aebleskiver pan with so much less oil. You can either use all purpose flour or wheat flour. These are really soft, yummy and they are so quick to prepare. Hope you guys try this guilt free version !

Many ask me what is a paniyaram pan whenever I put a paniyaram recipe...So I have put a click in the end, please take a look at it :)

You need...

3/4 cup Wheat flour

1 large ripe Banana

1/4 cup Sugar

1 tsp Cardamom powder

2 tbsp Coconut

1/4 tsp Baking powder

a pinch Salt

Water

To prepare...

Blend the banana, sugar and cardamom powder to form a puree.

Combine flour, salt, baking powder, coconut and banana puree.

Add water as required to form a thick batter with dropping consistency.

Heat a paniyaram or aebleskiver pan. Add few drops of oil in each hole.

Pour a small ladle of batter in each hole. Cover and cook for a minute or two until it gets brown.

Flip it and let it cook for another minute or so.

Serve them warm.

Notes:

* You can use all purpose flour or maida instead of wheat flour.

* Adjust sugar depending upon the ripeness of the banana.

* You can also deep fry them.

A Zebra Cake for His birthday :) (Eggless)

It was my husband's birthday yesterday and I made this beautiful cake for him. This is the first time I am trying out a Zebra cake and I am really happy that it turned out  great. Zebra cakes are just like marble cakes, but as the name suggests these cakes have stripes in them. Initially I had thought that its difficult to make these patterns, but they are simple once you try them. Make a simple cake batter, divide the batter into two. Mix cocoa in one batter. You have to keep on adding the vanilla and cocoa batter alternately to the centre of the pan. That's it...you can get these pretty patterns :)

The best part is that its eggless and butterless too. I have adapted my recipe from my friend Julie's Eggless Marble cake and Sum's Eggless Zebra Cake for making this cake. I wanted to take the pictures of making zebra patterns, but alas... I couldn't !! I had planned for a simple frosting also as it was a birthday cake, but my hubby dear was so happy with this striped beautiful cake and he said that frosting isn't necessary, its already so pretty :).  Hope you all will love this beautiful and delicious cake !

You need...

1.5 cups All Purpose Flour

1 cup thick Yoghurt

2 cups powdered Sugar (or 1 cup Sugar)

1 tsp Baking powder

1 tsp Baking soda

1.5 tsp Vanilla extract

2 tbsp Cocoa powder

1/2 cup Oil

a pinch Salt

approx 1/2 cup Milk

To prepare...

Grease a cake pan and keep ready. Sift the flour twice and keep aside. In a medium size bowl, add cocoa powder and about 3 tbsp milk, mix well without lumps and keep aside .

Take the yoghurt in a bowl. Add sugar and salt into the yoghurt, mix until it dissolves. Now add baking powder and soda, mix and leave it for 2-3 minutes. The yoghurt slightly bubbles and becomes frothy. Add oil and vanilla extract and mix gently. 

Now slowly add the flour little by little and fold it over. Do not mix vigorously. The cake batter is ready now and it will be very thick.

Take half of the batter and put into the cocoa mixture bowl. Mix gently and your cocoa cake batter is ready. So you have a vanilla batter and a cocoa batter now.

I found the batter very thick. So I added about 4 tbsp milk to the vanilla batter and 1 tbsp milk to the cocoa batter.( We have already added 3 tbsp milk while making the cocoa paste). The batter should be of medium consistency, not very thick and not very runny. If you put a little batter on a flat surface, it should spread slightly by itself.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Take the cake pan. Put 1 tbsp of vanilla batter at the centre of the pan. The batter will spread slightly.  Now add 1 tbsp of cocoa batter to the centre of the vanilla batter. Add the batter this way alternating the vanilla and cocoa batter until the batters get finished up. Remember that batter will spread itself and do not shake the pan. Keep putting the batter continuously without stopping.

Reduce the temperature of the oven to 350F. Bake for about 35-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted at the centre comes out clean. Once baked, leave it in the pan for 10-15 minutes. Remove gently from the pan and cool the cake completely.

Enjoy the beautiful cake :)

Have one more look before you go :) isn't it pretty ? 

Poha Paniyaram | Healthy Poha Vada

Poha paniyaram is a yummy snack which you can make super quick. The whole credit for this recipe goes to my dear hubby :) He gave me the recipe idea and suggested me to try in paniyaram pan which actually made these paniyarams or vadas very healthy and delicious. I have made these a few times now. For the regular paniyarams, you need the idli / dosa batter which takes a long process to make. But this can be prepared in a jiffy and when you are not quite sure of what snack to prepare quickly.  Serve them hot and I hope you all will love these...so please do try them !!

You need...

11/4 cup thick Poha

1/4 cup finely chopped Onion

1" pc Ginger finely chopped

3-4 Green chillies chopped

3-4 Curry Leaves chopped

2 tbsp grated Carrot (optional)

2 tbsp Coconut (optional)

1/4 cup Yoghurt

a few Coriander leaves finely chopped

Salt

To prepare...

Soak poha in water, maybe a little more than 1/2 cup water, for about 5 minutes. The poha should be completely wet. After 5 minutes, mash the poha with your hands thoroughly and mix well. 

Add rest of the ingredients and combine well. If necessary add a little water to help in mixing. You should get a dough like consistency and you should be able to make smooth balls out of it. So care should be taken not to add too much water.  Now make medium size balls out of it and keep aside.

Heat a paniyaram pan. Add few drops of oil in each hole. Place each poha ball in each hole. Cover and cook for 2 minutes until the bottom gets brown. Now slowly flip it and let it get brown. You can slowly rotate the poha ball so that sides also get slightly browned.

Poha paniyaram or vadas are ready. Serve hot with chutney or pickle or even sambhar.

Notes:
* You can deep fry them if you desire
* You can also do the tempering, saute the veggies slightly and then add with poha.

Aebleskiver or Danish Pancakes (with Nutella filling )

Aebleskiver are Danish pancakes which are small ball shaped. The batter for making the aebleskiver is similar to the American pancake batter, but they are prepared in a special pan called aebleskiver pan which is very similar to our south Indian paniyaram pan.  Hence these Danish pancakes are like small spheres rather than the usual round pancakes. The word Aebleskiver is a Danish word which means apple slice. So these pancakes are usually made with apple slices as filling inside.

I have referred the recipe here to make these traditional Danish pancake balls. I have used my paniyaram pan and I have used Nutella as filling. You can use fruits such as apple, banana or even jam, peanut butter etc can also be used as filling. They can be made as plain without any filling and can be served with some jam, maple syrup etc. These taste delicious with or without filling and sure kids would love them. My son love these cute pancake balls a lot, even the big kid..i mean my hubby is also a big fan of this yummy munchies, so I make them often :) :)

You need...

1 cup All Purpose Flour / Maida

2 tsp Baking powder

3 tbsp Sugar

1/4 tsp ground Cinnamon (optional)

1/4 tsp Salt

1 egg

3/4 cup Milk

2 tbsp Oil or Butter

Nutella

To prepare...

Combine flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and cinnamon in a bowl. 

Beat an egg and whisk with milk and oil. Add this to the flour mixture and mix well to form a batter, not too thick and not too thin.

Heat the aebleskiver or paniyaram pan. You can brush the holes slightly with butter. I have used cooking spray instead, sprayed a little oil over the holes. 

Now pour the batter to fill up half of each hole. Then quickly put less than a tsp of Nutella over the batter in each hole and finally put very little batter in each hole to cover the Nutella filling. You need to be quick as well as patient here. The batter might rise upto the top of the hole soon. So you need to add Nutella and batter to cover as soon as possible. 

Cover and cook for a minute until bottom gets browned. Then slowly flip to the other side and let it get brown. Your danish pancake balls are ready now. Serve hot.

Notes:
* You can use any kind of filling such as apple slices, banana slices, jam, peanut butter etc.
* They taste best when served hot.

Paneer Pasta in desi style !!

Paneer and Pasta sounds a unique and interesting combo rt? I was doubtful about how our very own Indian Paneer n Italian Pasta would taste together in this fusion recipe. It turned out very flavourful and delicious. I made this pasta in fully desi style. The whole garam masala and the kasoori methi makes it simply superb and flavourful. No store bought sauce is used, instead I have used fresh tomatoes here to make a basic simple sauce.  I have used only the paneer or cottage cheese here, but if you want you can add some cheese at the end. We all enjoyed this " ekdam desi style pasta " :)

You need...

1.5 cups Pasta

1 cup grated Paneer

1 Onion finely chopped

3-4 medium size Tomatoes

2 Garlic cloves finely chopped

Whole Masala: 1" pc Cinnamon, 2 Cloves, 1 Star Anise, 1 Cardamom pod

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

2 tsp Oil

Kasoori methi

Salt

Pepper

To prepare...

Cook pasta according to packet directions and keep aside. Blend the tomatoes to a puree and keep it ready.

Heat oil in a pan. Add everything mentioned as Whole Masala, saute for a minute until fragrant. Add the garlic and fry till light brown. Now add onion and saute until it changes light brown. 

Add the tomato puree and bring to a boil. Now add chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Cook for a few minutes until sauce becomes slightly thick.

Add the pasta and paneer now. Combine everything well. Add salt and pepper if necessary. Now finally crush the kasoori methi between palms and add to the pasta. Mix everything well and your Paneer Pasta is ready. Serve hot.

Notes:

* You can add other vegetables like carrot, bell pepper etc.
* You can add some cheese, red chilli flakes in the end if you desire.

Masala Dosa Paniyaram | Potato Bonda in a new way :)

The name of the dish sounds funny rt ? Dosa and paniyaram...how is both possible in a single dish ? This is not any complicated dish guys, masala dosa is in the form of paniyaram. To make it more clear, the potato masala is dipped in idli/dosa batter and cooked in paniyaram/aebleskiver pan...now this sounds fine and simple rt ? :) These bite sized dosa balls / bonda might be a kid pleaser and they will definitely find it interesting and new. I always add carrots while making masala for masala dosa, so I have used it here as well. These are extremely healthy as they are not deep fried and cooked in few drops of oil. This is a great way of utilizing the left over batter or the masala.

I am back to my lil space after a short break. I would like to thank my dear friends Sangeetha (Spicy Treats), Kaveri (Palakkad Chamayal) , also my hubby and a few of my other friends who inspired me to come back to this blog :). So I hope to peek into this space whenever I find time !! I was really happy when Sangeetha, Julie and Roshni tried my Eggless Mango cake. Thanx a lot guys for trying, posting it in a new version and also stopping by and giving me a feedback and I am glad that you liked it.  Now let's move on to the recipe...

You need...

1 cup Idli/Dosa batter

For Potato masala :

3 medium size Potatoes cubed

2 small Carrots cubed

1 Onion diced

1" pc Ginger finely chopped

2-3 Green chillies chopped

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

3-4 Curry leaves chopped

1 tsp Oil

Salt

To prepare...

Cook potatoes, onion and carrots with turmeric powder in a pressure cooker with adequate water. Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard seeds. Add curry leaves, ginger and green chillies. Saute for a minute.  Now add the cooked potatoes-onion-carrots, then salt and combine everything well. Mash the whole mixture, mix well and keep this aside to cool. Once cooled, make small size balls out of it.

Add required salt to the batter. Heat the paniyaram pan. Add few drops of oil in each hole. Dip each potato ball into the dosa batter and place in each hole. Cover with a lid and wait for a minute or two. When the bottom gets light brown, slowly flip it over. Cook until other side gets brown.

Serve hot with any chutney or sambar or enjoy them plain !

Notes:

* You can add urad dal if you wish while tempering. 

* You can skip carrots which is perfectly fine.

* I have cooked onions along with potato. You can chop them fine and saute until transparent after tempering. 

* The batter shouldn't be very watery or too thick, should be enough to make a coating.

Coriander Raita

Raita is a comfort dish for me. Be it a simple onion-tomato raita, I can have it happily with any kind of rice or roti. Coriander raita is very easy to make and might sound very similar to Mint Raita. You can view a few of my raita recipes here. Enjoy this lovely green raita with a simple pulao or biryani or with rotis.

You need...

1 cup Yoghurt

a small bunch of Coriander leaves

1/2" pc Ginger

2-3 Green chillies

Chaat Masala

Salt

To prepare...

Grind coriander leaves, ginger, green chillies and a little yoghurt  to a smooth paste. Add this to the rest of the yoghurt and mix well. Add water as required to get a smooth consistency. Now add salt to taste and mix. Sprinkle some chaat masala and serve with rice or roti.

Sambar Vada and Nimbu Paani - A Guest Post by Square Meals for The Chef's Favourites Series

Hello all..hope you all are doing great !! I am not very active in blogging these days. But I would like to thank a few of my dear friends who were a little concerned about my frequent disappearances :) and also to some of my friends who still stops by to leave some sweet comments even though I don't blog regularly. It's really nice to know that some of you still remember me ;) and very happy to get support and encouragement from you all :) 

I am back with The Chef's Favourites series for the month of June. Today we have 2 Chefs with us, Chef Aparna and Chef Gomathi of Square Meals. Aparna is a relative of mine and I am so happy to have you here along with your dearest friend Gomathi :) Aparna and Gomathi share a special friendship from a very long time and their common interest led to the birth of their lovely blog. How nice it is to know about such deep true friendships and also being co-bloggers rt. Their recipes range from various cuisines and you can find a lot of interesting recipes. I love the simple explanations and the way they share the different experiences about visits to world markets as well as with various cuisines.

Today Chef Aparna and Chef Gomathi of Square Meals are sharing with us not one, 2 recipes which they picked up from their sweet memories. Sambar Vada and Nimbu Paani....these are so popular, delicious and all time favourite recipes of many of us rt. I like to thank both of you to share such lovely recipes and I wish your friendship grow more stronger and more special as years go by :)

Sambar Vada

Nimbu Paani

I would like to thank both of you for this lovely post. Please do accept this as a token of love :)

Presenting to you Chef Aparna and Chef Gomathi now........

About us...

We, Gomathi & Aparna, have known each other for almost 12 years and have been best friends all through. Even though we have loved writing ever since we were in college, we had never thought that we would take up food writing so passionately. We have always been interested in cooking and would experiment with various recipes, when in school and college. After getting married we had to of course move on to full fledged cooking. You can trust us a 100 % when we say that cooking and baking can be absolutely rewarding and relaxing.

After cooking for our families for a few years, we came up with the idea of opening a restaurant called Square Meals. It was easier said than done and we realized that all we could do for now was to start writing about the foods we loved.

Our blog is now a little over a year old and we were extremely thrilled when Sobha approached us with an invitation to do a guest post. One of the clauses for this post was that the food should have a memory attached to it. We share many fond memories, many of which are food related.  We would like to thank Sobha for giving us this opportunity to relive our special memories

Favourite Recipe here @ Good Food
Eggless Sponge Cake because this is a versatile recipe which can be made as cup cakes or a regular cake, with varied flavours.

Favourite Cook Book

There are too many good ones out there but we love Tarla Dalal’s recipes.

Favourite Chef

Our mothers

Favourite Spice

Nutmeg, for its enticing aroma.

Favourite Restaurant  

Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes for their amazing salads, soups and bakery goodies.

Favourite Cuisine

Everything vegetarian

Favourite Food Show

Martha Bakes. Martha Stewart, the queen of cooking and baking and everything else, bakes up some of the most exquisite looking cakes, cookies, pies and other stuff on this show. 

Favourite Recipe
Our college years were spent in discovering the city (Chennai) we lived in, through our trips to the British Council and American libraries and food was of course an integral part of these trips. One of our favorite restaurants was the good old Woodlands Drive-In on Cathedral Road, near the American consulate. This place is very special to us as we have spent many afternoons under the shady trees, writing our assignments and theses.

We usually left our two-wheelers at the drive-in, walked to the library and came back with heavy bags and empty stomachs; the cold lemonade and hot dosas would call out to us from behind the counters. Their rava and plain dosas were good and their sambar was simply wow!!! We remember gobbling down the dosas and drinking the sambar separately!!!

Unfortunately, this restaurant closed down a couple of years ago and was replaced by a park. So this post also goes out as a tribute to the legendary restaurant.

Coming to the recipes we want to share, here are two of our drive-in favorites.

Sambar Vada

Ingredients


Cooked toor dal (yellow pigeon peas) – ½ cup
Tamarind pulp – to taste
Sambar powder (home-made or store-bought) –2-3 tbsps
Chili powder to taste (not required if sambar powder is spicy)
Vegetable of your choice (pumpkin, okra, potatoes, bell pepper etc)
Grated Coconut – 2 tbsps
Turmeric powder – 1 tsp
Cilantro for garnishing
Ghee – ½ tsp
Salt to taste

Method


For making Vada, please find the link  here.  
Boil the vegetable(s) in some water with salt and turmeric. Once they are partially cooked, add the tamarind pulp and simmer for another five minutes. Grind together the sambar powder and coconut and keep aside. Add the cooked dal to the vegetables, simmer for a couple of minutes and add the ground mixture. Add more salt and chili powder if required. Once mixture simmers for 5-10 minutes, take it off the heat, add the ghee, garnish with cilantro and serve.

Note – When using okra, wash them before cutting, else they will become mushy.
Before adding water, sauté the cut okra in a teaspoon of oil for about 5-6 minutes.

To assemble the sambar vadas, take a deep serving bowl and place one or two vadas (depending on the size). Pour on the piping hot sambar, until the vadas are immersed, add a little more ghee for an added fragrance and serve hot.


Nimbu Paani

Ingredients (Serves 2)
Water enough to fill two serving glasses
Juice from ½ a lemon (more if required)
Salt and sugar to taste
Ginger – 1, 1 inch piece
Soda (optional)

Method

Blend together all the ingredients (except soda, if using). Strain and serve over ice cubes for a refreshing summer drink. Add soda for a bubbly twist.

Cooking Tip / Technique or Favourite Quote
Never shy away from new ingredients, flavours and dishes; try them before you decide you do not like them.

Soya Chunks Bhurji

I am so glad that many of my blogger friends are great fans of Soya chunks and it's really nice to see a variety of soya chunks recipes in your spaces. I am planning to try out a few soon :) I usually use soya chunks mostly in curries. But this time I thought of making a dry version and made this bhurji. Whenever there is leftover sabzi or masala, I use them to make filling for sandwiches later that day. This time also we enjoyed this bhurji with rice as well as in sandwiches. You can add other vegetables of your choice to make it more colourful and nutritious. These protein rich bhurji tasted delicious and I guess I will be making it often.

Serves: 3-4

You need...

1 cup Soya chunks

1 Onion chopped

1 Bell Pepper chopped

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

1/2 tsp Fennel seeds

1 tsp Ginger- Garlic paste

1 tsp Chilli powder

1 tsp Coriander powder

1/2 tsp Garam masala

1/4 tsp Turmeric powder

Kasoori methi (optional)

Lime (optional)

a few Coriander leaves

Salt

Oil

To prepare...

Boil about 3 cups of water in a vessel, add soya chunks and a little salt. Allow it to cook for 10 minutes. Switch off the stove, close the vessel with a lid and keep it aside for 15 minutes.Drain the water and once cooled, gently squeeze out the water from the soya chunks. Pulse the soya chunks in a blender 2-3 times to get a crumbled form. Keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Splutter mustard and fennel seeds. Saute onion and ginger-garlic paste until the onions turn slight brown. Add the bell pepper, sprinkle a little water, cover and cook until the bell pepper is completely cooked. Saute in between.

Now add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder and salt. Saute well and add the crumbled soya chunks. Mix thoroughly and let it cook for a couple of minutes. If the mixture is too dry, sprinkle some water. Add garam masala and also add the kasoori methi if using by crushing between the hands. Combine everything well and finally add the coriander leaves and mix. If you desire, squeeze a lime on this.

Serve hot as a side dish with rice, chapathi or use as filling for sandwiches. Enjoy :)

Sending this to SYF and HWS series - Fennel seeds event, hosted by Kaveri , an event by Anu.

Spinach Chapathi ( version 2)

Hi all...hope you all enjoyed your weekend and we too had a wonderful one :).  I always make Spinach Chapathi by making a puree and then adding it to the flour. I have shared that recipe sometime back and can be viewed here. But today I am sharing another version of Spinach chapathi which I learnt from one of my friends here, Richa. She had made these in one of our potlucks and they got vanished in no time :).  I learnt the recipe that day itself and have made it a few times now. You can see beautiful patterns of spinach leaves in these chapathis, they are delicious and very easy to make. Thank you Richa for sharing this recipe and hope you all will try it out!!

You need..

1.5 cups Wheat flour

a small bunch of Spinach

2 tsp Ginger-Garlic paste

2-3 Green chillies finely chopped

3-4 tsp Kasoori methi (optional)

Salt

Oil

Water

To prepare..

Wash the spinach leaves and put them in a microwave safe bowl / plate. Microwave for 3-4 minutes or until wilted. It might leave out water which you can use while kneading. Allow it to cool.

Combine wheat flour, ginger-garlic paste, green chillies, kasoori methi (rub between palms n add), salt and a little oil. Now add the spinach to this, mash well and combine thoroughly. Add water as required and form a smooth dough. Cover with a damp cloth and leave it aside for 10-15 minutes.

Knead again the dough and make small lemon size balls out of the dough. Roll them out and fry the chapathis on the tawa by adding ghee or oil. Serve hot with any raita or sidedish. I served it with some whole moong and a simple onion raita :)

Notes:

* You can adjust the green chillies as per your preference. 

* You can also add red chilli powder or green chilli paste instead, especially if you have kids and they don't like biting the chillies.

Sending this to Show me your HITS - Iron Rich foods hosted by Julie, an event by Sangee
and CWF- Spinach hosted by Vardhini, an event by Kiran

Eggless Mango Icecream

When a baby is born, a mother is born too. Then starts a new world of learning and experiencing for both of them. Motherhood teach us a lot of things especially responsibility, patience, multi tasking.....and the list just goes on :). It's a 24*7 job where we get some special allowances such as kids driving us crazy most of the times, sleepless nights, cleaning house n number of times daily, lots of exercises such as running behind the naughty ones to make them eat n drink ;)..but still we enjoy this special role of our life rt :).  I would say each day is special just like the Mother's day for every mom. Wishing all the moms out there a very Happy Mother's Day. Hope you all have a great time with your family especially with kids :). 

We celebrated this day with a special dessert, Eggless Mango Ice cream. This is the first time I am making an ice cream and it turned out really yummy. It needs so less ingredients and delicious homemade ice cream can be cherished without much hassle.

You need...

2 ripe Mangoes

1/2 cup Sugar

1 cup sweetened Condensed milk

1.5 cup Whipping cream

a few Pistachio (optional)

To prepare...

Peel and cut the mangoes. Blend them along with sugar to get the mango pulp. It will be a very thick pulp. Add a little water and blend again to get a smooth pulp, but still thick.

Whisk gently the mango pulp, condensed milk and whipping cream to get a smooth consistency. Pour into a bowl and freeze it. After 2 hours, take the bowl out and mix or beat again. Keep the bowl back into the freezer for about 6-7 hours. Scoop out and serve with some nuts as topping.

Notes:

* You can adjust sugar depending on the ripeness of mangoes.

* You can also use canned mango pulp.

* You can add in the ice cream or garnish with some fresh mango pieces, nuts, tutti fruity etc.

* You can add more cream if you desire.

Sending this to the following events:

Mango Mania 99 at The Pumpkin Farm,
Kids Delight - Fruits at UK Rasoi,
Cooking made easy with Mango by Anjali
Showcase- Desserts by Divya and
Bon Vivant#4- Fruit Recipes by Sumee

Strawberry Lassi

It's Lassi time again !! I had made Sweet Mint Lassi a few days back. That was really  a flavourful one. If you haven't tried it, do try that lassi..you will surely love it :) The box of fresh strawberries I had, tempted me to try a lassi with them. It came out really tasty and the colour was just great :). It's a change from the usual Strawberry Milkshake / Smoothie. This lassi is a wonderful thrist quencher, so refreshing and yummy one...perfect to beat the heat. 

Serves 2

You need...

7-8 Strawberries

1 cup Yoghurt

2-3 tbsp Honey or Sugar

1/4 tsp Cardamom powder

To prepare..

Blend initially the strawberries to a smooth paste. Add other ingredients and blend again. Adjust the sweetness. Serve chilled.

Sending this to the following events:

Kids Delight - Fruits at UK Rasoi, Bon Vivant#4- Fruit Recipes by Sumee and Cool Summer Sips at Pages

Mango Avocado Salsa

Salsa is a mexican dip and there are so many varieties available. Mango salsa, a sweet and spicy dip,  is a delicious one which we tasted sometime back in a mexican restaurant. It is a seasonal dish, obviously as Mango is not available throughout the year. I saw the recipe of Mango Avocado salsa in the newspaper which inspired me to make it the very same day itself, though I modified the recipe a little. The ripe mangoes in this dip gives a unique taste and we can't just stop eating it. Guacamole is another mexican dip which is our favourite made using Avocado as main ingredient. You can have this salsa as a dip for tortilla chips or have it plain as a salad....in any way it will taste excellent. It's so simple to make and please do try this out :)

You need...

1 ripe Mango

1 ripe Avocado

1 Tomato chopped

1/2 of an Onion chopped

1 Jalapeno  or 2 Green chillies seeds removed and chopped finely

3-4 tbsp chopped Coriander leaves / Cilantro

Lime

Salt

Pepper

To prepare..

Peel the mango and chop into small pieces. Cut the avocado into two, remove the pit and chop the flesh. (or dice them)

Combine onion, tomato, green chillies / jalapeno, cilantro, salt and pepper. Squeeze some lime juice and mix thoroughly.

Now add the mango and avocado pieces, combine well. Add more salt, pepper or lime juice if required. Salsa is ready to enjoy. You can also chill this for about 30 minutes for a better taste and then serve.

Notes:
* You can also add crushed red chilli flakes instead of green chillies.
* You can skip avocado & onion and make a different version of Mango salsa.

Sending this to Healthy Diet- Vegetarian Side dishes , hosted by Vardhini, an event by Priya
Mango Mania 99 at The Pumpkin Farm,
Kids Delight - Fruits at UK Rasoi,
Cooking made easy with Mango by Anjali and
Bon Vivant#4- Fruit Recipes by Sumee

Baked Crispy French Fries

Who wouldn't love crispy French Fries? It was one of my childhood favourite snacks. But when we think of the oily deep fried ones now, we have to think a second time whether to enjoy them or not rt ? So we can always choose the baking option to eat it guilt free. But do they come as crispy as the deep fried ones? I guess no !! Recently I read somewhere that boiling the potato wedges before baking will give you the exact crispiness. Hence I tried it and it really worked for me. They were really crisp and yummy...most important is that its healthy and you can enjoy them guilt free. Add in any seasoning you prefer, do try these and enjoy the delicious fries.

Serves 2-3

You need...

3 medium size Potatoes

A pinch Turmeric powder

1-2 tsp Oil

Pepper

Salt

Any other seasoning if you wish

To prepare...

Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a tray with foil and apply some oil.

Peel the skin of the potatoes. Wash them in cold water. Cut them into wedges. 

Boil enough water (2-3 cups) with a little salt and turmeric powder in a vessel. When the water starts boiling, add the potato wedges. Let it boil for 3-4 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them, else they might become soft. They should be still firm, but slightly cooked. Drain all the water and pat them dry with a clean cloth or paper towel.

Once ready to handle, sprinkle on the potato wedges some salt, pepper and any other seasoning if you are using . Add the oil and thoroughly mix with hands. Alternatively, you can put the wedges in a vessel.  Then add oil, sprinkle salt and pepper. Close the vessel and toss it.

Spread the wedges on the tray without overlapping. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Then turn them to other side and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until they become golden brown. Please keep an eye on the oven as all ovens vary.

Serve immediately with some ketchup. Enjoy the baked crispy french fries guilt free :)

Sending this to Fast Food, not Fat Food event hosted by Kalyani, an event by Priya